Sleeping car bed



Dec. l5, 1953 o. A. Kul-:LER ETAL 2,662,584

SLEEPING CAE BED Filed Jan. 14, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet l n /wo v mmf a W//am f. Burnef 7L A T TORNE Y Dec. l5, 1953 o. A. KUHLER ET AL 2,662,584

SLEEPING CAR BED Filed Jan. 14, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 A 7 TOR/VE Y Filed Jan. 14, 1948 DCC. 15, 1953 o. A. KUHLER ETAL 2,662,584

SLEEPING CAR BED 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec. 15, 1953 o. A. KUHLER ETAL SLEEPING CAR BED 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 14, 1948 MEA? l E?? INVENTOR' ''oA. Kuhler f Wil/ia m f. Bur ne H Byh-Lg/L E.

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 15, 1953 SLEEPING OAR BED Otto A. Kuhler, Wheel Hill, Blauvelt, N. Y., and William E. Burnett, Montclair, N. J., assignors tc American Car and Foundry Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 14, 1948, Serial No. 2,266

4 Claims.

This invention relates to beds and particularly to mounting and guide means for movable beds used in railway sleeping car rooms.

Due to space limitations in such rooms, particularly those of the single occupancy type, the seat, bed and lavatory facilities must be carefully designed and so arranged in the room as to provide the clearance necessary for their operation and use. Where a stationary seat extending transversely of the room is provided, a unitary rigid type bed is sometimes stored when not in use vertically on one side along the outer wall of the room. In order to provide maximum seat Width in such an arrangement, the bed should be mounted so as to completely clear the ,seat during movement between its horizontal occupancy and stored positions. It is also desirable that the bed be so mounted as to eliminate the necessity of moving it all the way to fully stored position in order to make available suiiicient occupant dressing space in the room or to permit access to the lavatory or toilet facilities.

One object of the present invention is to provide means for mounting and guiding a movable sleeping car bed so as to clear the side or" a seat structure located closely adjacent the bed when the latter is in stored position whereby maxim mum seat width is obtained.

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement, as above described, wherein the bed will automatically be moved to an intermediate position when released from either stored or occupancy positions to provide standing room for the passenger to dress or to permit use of the lavatory facilities.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a study of the followingt description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial transverse sectional view taken vertically through a railway sleeping car room showing the bed and seat installed therein, the bed being shown in vertical stored position by full lines and in intermediate and hori* zontal occupancy positions by broken lines;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 4 is a partial vertical sectional side View of adjoinnig railway sleeping car rooms taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1 showing the bed in vertical stored position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. fi, but showing the bed in horizontal occupancy position;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective View in the sleeping car room with one end wall removed and showing the bed pan in horizontal position, and

Fig. '7 is a broken sectional detail view taken approximately on line 'l-l of Fig. 6 showing the latch mechanism for retaining the bed in either the stored or occupancy position.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings, the bed, generally indicated at 8, is shown as installed in a single occupancy sleeping car room defined by the car side wall i6 provided with a window I2, transverse end walls M, l5, aisle wall it and door 2li.

The bed 8 comprises a rigid pan structure 22 provided with the necessary bedding 23. The bed pan, as more clearly shown in Fig. 6, comprises a rectangular bottom sheet 24 bounded by upstanding side wall members 25, 23 and end wall members 30, 32, suitably joined together to form the pan-shaped structure. The bed pan is reiniorced by side and end stiening bars 3ft, 35 and 38, dii, respectively, Welded or otherwise secured to the inside upper edge portions of the pan side and endgwall members. The end bars 35i, du and end wall members 3c, 32, adjacent their junction with side bar 3@ and side wall member 28, are formed to provide upstanding or projecting ears ll carrying short shafts 412. The end bars 3e, lil and end wall members 3l), 32 are also formed centrally between their ends with similar upstanding ears 1M.

A stationary seat structure is arranged at one end of the room and comprises a transversely extending seat d5, pedestal it and folding back 61. The seat is suitably mounted on the pedestal which is xed to the floor and the seat back is hingedly connected to the pedestal by brackets L33 permitting it to be folded down on the seat.

The bed is stored when not in use in a vertical position with one side resting on the floor adjacent the outer wall i@ of the room and the seat extends transversely to a point closely adjacent the stored bed to thereby provide maximum seat width. The bed is mounted and guided by means now to be described whereby it will clear the closely adjacent end of the seat during its movement between stored and occupancy positions.

The bed is mounted by means including sus* pension links dt, one at each end of the bed, pivotaliy connected to the bed pan at one end by pins 5@ extending through the ears te. The other ends of links 4S carry short sha-its 5l to which are attached cables 52 that extend upwardly where they are connected to torsion springs 53 housed in casings 5B vsecured to the outer room wall l0. Springs 53 are of suncient strength to over-balance the weight of the bed whereby the latter is automatically moved to intermediate position when released from either stored or occupancy position, as will hereinafter appear.

Movement of the bed is controlled by guide means which comprises rollers 55 journalled on the shafts i2 carried by the ears ll on the bed pan, rollers 55 journalled on the shaits 5| at the ends of the links 49, and upper and lower vertical guideways 5l', 53, respectively. The rollers 55 are arranged to ride in the upper vertical guideways while the rollers 55 ride in the lower vertical guideways 58, the guideways being secured to outside wall it and transverse end walls ifi, i6. Nuts 5d screwed on the outer ends of shafts 5i retain links t9 in position thereon. The guideways El', 53, as more clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively, are secured by screws E2 to the side wall l and to opposite sides of each end wall is of which they form a part.

As best shown in Figs. l, 6, the lower portions Gli of lower vertical guideways 58 merge into parallel upper laterally offset portions 66 to provide bearings E58 against which the rollers 55 are engaged when the bed is in the intermediate oi inclined position. The bed is automatically moved to this position upon its release 'from latch mechanism, as hereinafter described, by the springs 53 acting through cables 52, rollers 55 and suspension links d5, the rollers 5&5 being drawn upwardly against the tops of upper guideways 51. During movement of the bed from Vertical stored position, the rollers 55 on the bed pan ride upwardly in the lower portions 54 of lower guideways 5s until they reach the bearings 68. The bed will then tilt inwardly of the room by gravity to inclined intermediate position due to the offset connection of rollers 55 and links 49 with the bed pan by projecting ears 4| and 44,

respectively, the rollers 5@ being shifted into enl gagement with the guideway bearing portions 88. The bed is then manually moved to horizontal occupancy position where rollers 55 Contact the tops of the upper offset portions 66 of lower guideways 58 and rollers '55 are forced downwardly against the tension of springs 53 to the bottom of upper guideways 5l'. When the bed is released from this position, the rollers 5S are again pulled upwardly to the tops of upper guide ways 5@ by springs 53, while the rollers 55 on the bed pan will ride downwardly in the upper offset portions of lower guideways 523 until they come into engagement with bearings GS, moving the bed back to intermediate inclined position from where it is manually pushed down into vertical stored position against the force of springs 53. It will be seen that the suspension links 49 and rollers 5S, 5'5 riding in upper and lower guideways 57, 58, respectively, control the swinging movement of the bed between a vertical stored position shown by full lines and a horizontal occupancy position shown by broken lines in Fig. l. Dur ing movement of the bed from either or" these positions, the rollers 55 will encounter and enM gage against the guideway bearing portions S3 to retain the bed in an intermediate inclined position also shown by broken lines in Fig. l. Since the strength of springs 53 is suflicient to overbalance the total weight of the bed, the latter will always be urged toward and tend to assume its intermediate position.

The bed is retained either in vertical stored position or in horizontal position against the tension of springs 53 by latch mechanisms, one of which is shown in Fig. '7. A latch mechanism is housed at each upper or inner corner of the bed pan in the space between the pan side wall 33 and a cover plate lli, and the pan side wall 32 and a similar cover plate l5 at the opposite end oi' the bed pan, as shown in Figs. 6, 7. rlhe cover plates 14, It are positioned in place over the latch mechanisms by screws 18 securing them to the end stiffening bars 38, 40 and to spacer members 8|). Since the latch mechanisms at opposite ends of the bed pan are identical, only one is shown and described in detail. rlhe latch. mechanism includes keepers 82 and at, the latter being secured by screws BE to the stiiiening bars 38, il at opposite ends of the bed pan. The keepers 82 are adapted to engage pins or studs 88 through openings 89 in the pan end walls 39, 32 when the bed is moved to horizontal position. The keepers 84 of the latch mechanism are engageable with similar studs 55 when the bed is moved to its vertical stored position against the outside wall IE, the studs 8S and 99 projecting from opposite transverse walls Hi, |*3 at the proper locations. Spring pressed latching elements 92, M, mounted in suitable supports Si, 98, respectively, serve to retain the keepers in engagement with their respective studs when the bed is in either the horizontal or the stored position.

The latching elements 92, Si@ are constantly urged toward latching position by coiled springs |39 and are formed with an inclined edge I 02 so as to be retracted upon engagement with the studs, permitting the latter to be received in and engaged by the keepers 82 or 84, as the case may be, depending on the position of the bed. The bed is moved from one position to the other and the latehing elements 92, 9d are actuated by a single operating handle |64 ixed centrally on a shaft |06. The shaft is journalled in bearing members |03 carried by the bed pan and is retained in place by yokes i it secured by screws l E2 to the bearing members. An arm H4, xed to each end of the shaft |65, carries a pin HG ar ranged in slot H3 formed in a link ll pivotally connected at 522 to one end of a lever 524. This lever is pivotally mounted at |25 in the latch mechanism housing with its other end operatively engaging a notch E28 in the latching elements 5:2. From the foregoing it will be seen that the latching elements 92 are actuated by movement of the operating handle iM in a clockwise direction, or to the right, as viewed in Figure 7. rThe arm i ifi is also in position to engage one end of a bellcrank |30 pivotally mounted at |32 in the latch mechanism housing and having its opposite end operatively engaging a similar notch |34 in latching element 94. Again referring to Figure 7, it is seen that due to the pin and slot or lost motion connection between arm IIA and link |20, the arm is free to swing upon movement of operating handle |04 in a counter-clockwise direction, or to the left, to actuate the latching elements S13. It will be understood that the latching elements 92 and keepers 32 are engageable with the studs 88 to retain the bed in horizontal occupancy position, while the latching elements 94 with their keepers 8G are engageable with the other studs 90 to retain the bed in the vertical stored position.

The combined weight of the bed and an occupant is to a great extent supported by the suspension links 49 with their rollers 5s engaged against the bottoms of upper guideways 5l, and by the rollers 55 engaged against the tops of lower guideways 58. The occupants weight on the bed will force rollers 5e down against the bottoms of upper guideways 5l and rollers 55 up against 5 the tops of lowerguideways 5t, .thus firmly lsupporting the bed in horizontal position. While the principal purpose the studs il?, is to retain the unoccupied bed in horizontal position, they also serve to additionally support the bed when occupied and provide La safety factor in event of failure of the suspension linlis d. Also aiding support of the bed when occupied and serving as a safety fao-Lor are guide cleats its secured to opposite transverse walls id, it in supporting relationship to the bed. rthese guide cleats are secured to the walls in an inclined position whereby, as clearly shown in Figure l, they also help to guide the bed assembly while being moved between its posiitons.

@pera-tion oi the bed is as follows, andassuming that the bed is in the vertical posiiton stored on one side with the pan opening fao ing the car outside wall, shown by full lines in Figure l: the seat baol. il is lirst folded down against seat 135 to the position by broken lines in Figure l. The handle les is then pulled, rotating the shaft idd counter-cloclnvise and actuating latching elements ed to release the keepers Sil from the studs This will permit the bed to be lifted vertically upward by the force of springs d3 to a Vposition where the rollers 55 encounter and engage against the bearing portions te of lower guideways es and rollers 5t reach the tops of upper euideways il?.

with the bed pan, as previously referred to, the bed will then swing or tilt inwardly of the room by gravity around the rollers as a pivotal point to an intermediate inclined position, as shown V by broken lines in Figure l. The bed may then be moved to horizontal position by pushing down on handle iili, the bed swinging about the pivot pins be carried by ears dit and the rollers dt nio-ving downwardly to the bottoms or upper guideways lil', while the rollers 55 move upwardly to the tops of lower guideways The bed is then retained in horizontal position by engagement of the latching elements 92 and keepers 32 with the studs et. By reference to Figure l it will be seen that the bed, during its movement from vertical stored position to horizontal position, has cleared the seat i5 with the back il folded down thereon. Should the passenger desire to use the lavatory facilities, or to dress, it is merely necessary to step out of the bed and push the handle lofi, which will swing arms l ill in a clock;- wise direction, actuating levers ltd to retract latching elements 552 and release the bed. Due to the action of springs 53, the bed will swing upwardly around pins 5t and the rollers lili will move downwardly in lower guideways until they engage against or rest upon the bearing portions 6s. The bed will then be in the midway or intermediate position, affording ample space in the room for the occupant to dress or use the lavatory facilities without the necessity of moving the bed all the way to stored position for this purpose. To return the bed to stored position, the handle lila is pushed, to swing the bed about pins il and rollers toward vertical position and to disengage the rollers from bearing portions @il of guideways 58. The bed may now be pushed downwardly against the tension of springs 53 into fully stored position where it is retained by engagement of latching elements et and keepers 84 with studs Qil.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail, it will be obvious that various modifications may be made by those skilled in Due to :t rthe offset connection of the links il@ and rollers the art, and all such modioations are contemplated as will fall within the scope ci the appended claims dening our invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a movable bed, means for mounting and guiding the bed for swingn ing movement about one side between a vertical ly extending st red position and a horizontally extending occupancy position comprising, suspension `links pivotally connected at their lower ends to intermediate portions of the ends oi? 'the bed oiset from the center oi gravity of the bed when in stored position, lower vertical guideways having bearing portions intermediate the ends ther-cof, means adjacent the extremities of the said one side oi the bed and projecting beyon te center of gravity thereof vwhen. in stored po arranged in said lower guideways, upper ver cal guidewa-ys, means on the upper ends of s; links arranged in the upper guideways, means fo; releasably securing the bed in eit ci positions, and spring means acting to draw in on the upper endsof said links upw t engagement against'the tops of said upper guidel ways upon release of the bed from either of ai positions causing said means projecting from said one side of the bed to engage against said lower guideway bearing portions and said to be tilted about its guided side to supported in an intermediate inclined position.

2. In combination with a movable bed having attachment portions projecting centrally beyond the tops of the ends and adjacent the extremities beyond the top of one side thereof, means for mounting and guiding the bed for swinging movement about the said one side between a vertically extending stored position and a horizontally extending occupancy position comprising, suspension links pivotally connected at their lower ends to said projecting portions of the ends of the bed, lower vertical guideways having a lower portion merging into an offset upper portion to provide bearing portions therebetween, means carried by said projecting portions on the said one side of the bed arranged in said lower guideways, upper vertical guideways, means on the upper ends of said links arranged in the upper guideways, means for releasably securing the bed in either of said positions, and spring means acting to draw said means on the upper ends of said links upwardly into engagement against the tops of said upper guideways upon release of the bed from either of said positions causing said means carried by the projecting portions on the said one side of the bed to engage against said lower guideway bearing portions and said bed to be tilted about its guided side to and supported in an intermediate inclined position.

3. In combination with a movable bed, means for mounting and guiding the bed comprising suspension links pivotally connected at one of their ends to portions projecting centrally beyond the tops of the ends of the bed, lower vertical guideways having a lower portion merging into an oi'- set upper portion to provide bearing portions therebetween, rollers projecting beyond ythe top and adjacent to the extremities of one side of the bed arranged in said lower guideways, upper vertical guideways, rollers carried by the opposite ends of said suspension links arranged in the upper guideways whereby said bed may be swung about its guided side to a horizontal occupancy position, said bed being supported in occupancy position by engagement of the link carried rollers against the bottoms of said upper guideways and engagement of therollers adjacent to the extremities of the guided side of the bed against |the tops of said lower guideways, means for releasably securing the bed in said horizontal oecupancy position, and spring means acting to draw said linl: carried rollers upwardly into engagement against the tops of said upper guideways when the bed is released from said horizontal position causing said rollers adjacent to the extremities of the said one side of the bed to engage against said lower guideway bearing portions and said bed to be tilted about its guided side to and supported in an intermediate inclined position 4. 1n combination with a movable bed, means for mounting and guiding the bed comprising suspension links pivotally connected at one of their ends to intermediate portions of the ends of the bed offset from the center of gravity thereof when in stored position, lower Vertical guideways having a lower portion merging into an offset upper portion to provide bearing portions therebetween, rollers on the bed adjacent the extremities o one side and projecting beyond the center of gravity thereof when in stored position arranged in said lower guideways, upper vertical guideways, rollers carried by the opposite ends of said suspension links arranged in the upper guideways whereby said bed may be swung about its guided side to a vertical stored position, means for releasably securing the bed in said vertical stored position, and spring means acting to draw said link carried rollers upwardly into engagement against 'the tops of said upper guideways when the bed is released from said stored position causing said rollers adjacent to the extremities of the said one side of the bed to engage against said lower guideway bearing portions and said bed to be tilted by gravity about its guided side to and supported in an intermediate inclined position.

OTTO A. KUHLER. WILLIAM E. BURNETT.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,812,853 Barnes July 7, 1931 1,820,672 Muchlinski Aug. 25, 1931 1,838,561 Matheson Dec. 29, 1931 1,876,327 Lauterstein Sept. 6, 1932 2,440,515 Kelly et al Apr. 27, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,258 Great Britain Feb. 4, 1965 

